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Abstract
The twentieth century was marked, especially in its second part, by the rivalry of the United States and the Soviet Union, a rivalry that prompted many analysts to devise theories about this seemingly perpetual bi-polar international system. Yet after 1989 these theories crumbled under the seemingly unexpected dissolution of one of the two poles of the system, and thus new theories emerged, trying to better explain what was happening. One such theory, the Social-Constructivist one, tried to argue that identities, ideas and the way in which these are constructed also play a pivotal role in international relations. In the pages below I will try to analyze what is emerging to be a similarly century-defining rivalry, the one between the United States and the People's Republic of China, through the 'lens' of Social-Constructivism, to find out if the theory laid out by Alexander Wendt almost three decades ago can still aptly explain the world of today.
Keywords: U.S. - China relations, Social-Constructivism, Discourses
Introduction
Ever since 1972 and the historic rapprochement between the United States and China1, the People's Republic has steadily, but decisively, grown into a major power, and the rise of the Asian nation has been closely linked with its relationship with the United States, especially in terms of their economic cooperation, which at times has seemed so close that it could be seen as symbiotic, prompting the emergence of the term "Chimerica" to highlight the growing interdependent link between the two countries.2
Still, the relationship was not always perfect, and even if, given the often disturbing and irrational behaviour and way of conducting himself of Donald Trump, we could be inclined to think that the tensions between the People's Republic of China and the United States originated with the 2016 U.S. Presidential elections and their disruptive and shocking outcome, the divergences between the two countries run much older.
The days of Kissinger, Bush or Clinton are beyond the scope of this paper, thus I will focus on more recent events, namely on the Obama presidency. Even by his first term in office and despite many other grave issues, such as the global economic crisis or the conflicts in the Middle East, the relationship with China was given top priority by the...